Treating of material in the form of strands



H. KRESS Aug. 7, 1934.

TREATING OF MATERIAL IN THE FORM OF STRANDS Filed Jan.. 13

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INVENTOR H. KRESS BY Patented Aug 7, 1934 PATENT OFFICE TREATING F MATERIAL IN THE FORM OF I STRANDS Heinz Kress, Cranford, N. J.,' assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of'New York Application January 13,1933, Serial No. 651,503

8 Claims. 91-32) This invention relates generally 'to the treating of material in the form of strands, and more especially to apparatus for coating and/or impregnating a strand and more particularly a textile covered strand with a liquid coating material such as molten wax, enamel dissolved in a mineral oil solvent, cellulose acetate in an organic solvent, etc.

In continuous processes for treating strands 10 with such materials the strand is customarily passed through a bath of the liquid material and thence to an oven or other drying and treating apparatus.. Means are provided to control the amount of liquid applied to the strand in passing through the bath and to remove excess therefrom.

An object of the present invention is to improve apparatus for applying coating or impregnating materials to strands with particular regard to preventing knots, joints or other minor dimen- 0 sional irregularities in a strand from deranging the'smooth functioning of the apparatus.

Briefly, a preferred embodiment of the invention contemplates a bath of liquid coating material to be applied to astrand passed there-- through. The strand may pass through only once or may make successive passages acquiring an additional coating of material at each passage. The apparatus may also be arranged to handle a plurality of strands simultaneously, each mak- 0 ing one or more passages through the coating bath. A characteristic feature of the invention is the provision in or adjacent to the bath of a coacting pair of matched, complementary, self cleaning, rotary wiper die rolls between which the strand passes on emerging from the bath, the rolls being so mounted that they may be yieldingly separated against adjustable spring tension to permit dimensional irregularities of the strand to pass between them, and being driven at somewhat greater peripheral velocity than the linear velocity of the strand between them to wipe the excess coating therefrom.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear from the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which like reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in the several figures and in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation and partly in section of a strand treating apparatus embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 isa detached plan view of the tank for the liquid material together with the wiper die rolls and appurtenant parts;

Fig. 3 is a view thereof in vertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view of a 'pair of coacting wiper dies with a strand passing between them; 6

Fig. 5 is a detached view in front elevation of the movable die supporting structure as removed from the tank, and e Fig. 6 is a corresponding view thereof in right hand side elevation.

In the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed a drying oven, generally indicated by the reference numeral 10, of any approved construction and mode of operation whose precise nature is" not pertinent to the present invention and so is 9 not disclosed in detail, has positioned adjacent thereto a tank 11 of sheet metal or other appropriate material to hold, a bath of liquid strand coating material whose surface is indicated by the line -12. An inlet 13 and overflow 14 may be provided to keep the level of the bath constant while the apparatus is in use. Means may also be provided, if desired, to keep the bath melted if necessary or to-control the temperature thereof, such as a steam coil, electric resistance heaters or the like.

A multi-grooved guide pulley or sheave 15 is mounted to rotate freely within the tank in any approved fashion and dips its lower portion into the bath so that strands passing down from the oven 10 to the left hand side of the sheave 15 under the same and up at the right hand side thereof to the oven 10 again will be carried into and out of the bath by the sheave On leaving the sheave 15 and before reentering the oven 10 such strands pass through an apparatus comprising a pair of complementary, rotary wiper dies to control the thickness of raw coating carried by the strands. In this apparatus a support 16 is bolted or otherwise secured to the rear wall of the tank and projects horizontally forwardly therefrom. Near its rear and front extremities this support 16 has a pair of vertical extensions 1? each formed with a vertical guide groove 18. A slab-like base member 19 fits removably down into the grooves 18 and is supported on a cross bar 20 bolted or otherwise secured to the bottom of the support 16. The left hand face of the member 19 (Fig. 5) has formed integrally thereon a three sided rectangular wall 21 having two vertical sides and a horizontal top. At their lower ends these verticalside walls bear integral lugs 22, each having at its outer end a transversely bored bearing 23.

The 1m hand bearing 23 is internally threaded.

A shaft 24 passes through the bearings 23 and is threaded externally into the left hand bearing 23 and held adjustably immovable therein by a jam nut 25 mounted on the shaft. The left hand extremity of the shaft 24 beyond the threaded portion thereof is reduced in diameter forming a stop shoulder at the end of the threaded portion. A washer 26 is positioned on the reduced portion of the shaft against this stop shoulder and a collar 27 is pinned or otherwise rigidly fastened on the extreme end of the shaft. The right hand end of the shaft 24 is provided with a screw driver slot for adjusting the shaft in the left hand bearing 23.

A substantially U-shaped yoke 28 is mounted on the shaft 24 with pivotal freedom thereon, but restrained from longitudinal displacement thereon by being mounted between the washer 26 and the collar 2'7. In the upwardly extending extremities' of the yoke 28 is rotatably mounted a shaft 29 carrying a plurality of wiper die discs 30 rigidly mounted thereon for rotation therewith. The right hand disc 30 bears laterally against one face of the right hand bearing head 31 of the yoke 28 while a collar 32 pinned or otherwise secured on the shaft 29 bearsagainst the opposite face of the head 31 thus preventing longitudinal motion of the shaft 29 relative to the yoke 28. By adjustment of the shaft 24 in the bearings 23 the yoke 28 and therewith the shaft 29 and discs 30 may be adjusted transversely of the base 19 to bring the discs 30 into accurate coacting relation with dies complementary thereto as hereinafter described. For driving the shaft 29 a gear 33 is rigidly mounted on the right hand extremity thereof leaving a s ace between the inner left hand face thereof an the right hand face of the collar 32 to receive the wall of the tank 11 therebetween when the base 19 and its associated parts are placed in position in the support 16 within the tank.

On the rear face of the transverse bottom member of the yoke 28 is a rearwardly project-- ing pin 34. A vertically disposed tension spring 35 is attached at its lower end to the pin 34 and at its upper. end to a threaded adjustment pin 36 passing freely through a vertical perforation in the horizontal upper portion of the wall 21 and vertically adjustable relative thereto by means of the nut 37 threaded on the pin. The pull of the spring 35 tends to rotate the yoke 28 about the shaft 24 in a counterclockwise direction as seen in Figs. 3 and 6 and thus tends to urge the shaft 29 and therewith the discs 30 away from the base 19.

A horizontal lug or shelf 38 integral with the base 19 extends forwardly therefrom and carries an adjustable stop 39 threaded therein and having a lock nut 40. The bottom end of the stop 39 coacts with a rearwardly extending lug 41 formed on the rear face of the horizontal transverse portion of the yoke 28 thus adjustably limiting the motion of the shaft 29 and discs 30 away from the base 19 under the urge of the spring 35.

A yoke 42 (Fig. 3) having a flat horizontal body and downwardly laterally curved arms 43 is positioned against the under surface of a flat removable shelf 47 located horizontally. near the top of the tank and is attached thereto by screws 44 or other suitable means. A shaft 45 is journalled for free rotation in the arms 43 and carries rigid thereon a gear 46 lying outside the adjacent arm 43 and providing space between to receive the wall of the tank 11 when in position. This gear 46 normally meshes with the gear 33 to be driven thereby.

A series of wiper die discs 48 complementary to and for coaction with the discs 30 is rigidly mounted on the shaft 45 for rotation therewith. Dies 30 are shown as male and dies 48 as female but may of course be arranged vice versa. Dies 48 are also shown as of larger diameter than dies 30 but may be of equal or less diameter. It is to be noted further that each pair of matched dies is complementarily grooved to provide a passage aperture therebetween for a strand 49 (Fig. 4) to pass through.

A stub shaft 50 is mounted in any approvedv fashion (not shown) in the front wall of the tank 11 and carries at its inner end a gear 51 meshing with the gear 33 and'at its outer end a gear 52 meshing with any approved driving means (not shown). The stub shaft 50 is located in axial alignment with the shaft 24. Hence when the yoke 28 rocks on the shaft 24 the gear 33 remains in mesh with the gear 51.

In operation a strand 49 to be coated passes down from the bottom of the oven 10 (Fig. 1) and under the sheave 15 into the bath of raw coating liquid. From the sheave 15 the strand carrying an adherent excess of liquid passes up through the aperture between one pair of the complementary wiper die rolls 30 and 48. The excess of liquid is squeezed'and stripped from the strand by passing through the aperture. The desired and thus predetermined remaining amount of raw coating material on the strand may also in some instances be smoothed and compacted into or on the strand by the rolling and wiping action of the dies which are positively rotated from the gear 52 through the gears 51, 33 and 46 to rotate so that their points or lines of contact with the coated strand move in the same direction as the strand and at somewhat greater tangential speed than the linear velocity of the strand.

Now if a knot, splice, weld, or some fortuitous irregularity in the strand is present, on being drawn between the dies, the dies 33 will back away momentarily under the wedging effect of the irregularity against the tension of the spring 35 which will return them to place again immediately the irregularity has passed the dies, thus obviating breakage of the strand or damage to the machine as in the case of fixed dies. The gears 46 and 33 are so proportioned as not to be completely disjoined by any ordinary irregularity of the strand passing between the rotating dies.

The convex peripheral cross section of each die 30 coacts with the correspondingly concave peripheral form of the corresponding die 48 to render each pair of dies self cleaning since their peripheral surfaces wipe over each other as they rotate and prevent the accumulation of coating material on the rolls with a consequent gradual forcing apart of the dies by deposit of coating material thereon. 2

It will be evident that the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed is merely illustrative and may be modified and departed from in many ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as pointed out in and limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for treating strands, means to apply a plurality of layers of coating material to a. strand, and means to control the thickness of coating material on the strand including a unitary rotary wiper die having a plurality of strand engaging grooves therein and rigidly fixed in location, and a second unitary rotary wiper die complementary thereto also having a plurality of strand engaging grooves therein and resiliently mounted to normally engage the first named die.

2. In an apparatus for treating strands, means to apply a plurality of layers of coating material to a strand, and means to control the thickness of coating material on the strand including a unitary rotary wiper die having a plurality of strand engaging grooves therein and rigidly fixed in location, and a second unitary rotary wiper die complementary thereto also having a plurality of strand engaging grooves therein and resiliently mounted to normally engage the first named die whereby the second die may yieldingly back away from the first die as a whole to pass an irregularity in the strand and be returned to normal position again.

3. In an apparatus for treating strands, an immersion chamber, means to guide a plurality of strands through the chamber, a rotatable shaft removably rigidly mounted in the chamber, a plurality of strand wiping dies rigidly mounted on the shaft, a second rotatable shaft removably resilientlymount'ed in the chamber, and a plurality of strand wiping dies rigidly mounted on the second shaft and complementary to the first named plurality of dies.

4. In an apparatus for treating strands, an immersion chamber, a pair of shafts mounted therein and extending through a wall thereof and carrying a pair of complementary rotary strand wiping dies having a plurality of strand engaging grooves, and means to drive the shafts located completely outside the chamber.

5. In an apparatus for treating strands, an immersion chamber, a shaft mounted therein in a; fixed position and extending through a wall of the chamber and having a rotary strand wiping die thereon within the chamber, a second shaft resiliently mounted in the chamber and having a chamber, and means to drive the shafts located completely outside the chamber.

6. In an apparatus for treating strands, an immersion chamber, a pair of shafts mounted therein and extending through a wall thereof and carrying a pair of complementary rotary strand wiping dies, and means to drive the shafts located completely outside the chamber comprising a pair of coacting gears mounted on the shafts outside of the chamber.

7. In an apparatus for treating strands, an immersion chamber, a shaft mounted therein in a fixed position and extending through a wall of the chamber and having a rotary strand wiping die thereon within the chamber, a second shaft resiliently mounted in the chamber and having a rotary strand wiping die thereon within the chamber for coaction with the first named die and the second shaft also extending through a wall of the chamber, and means to drive the shafts located completely outside the chamber comprising a pair of coacting gears mounted on the shafts outside of the chamber.

8. In an apparatus for treating strands, an immersion chamber, a shaft mounted therein in a fixed position and extending through a wall of the chamber and having a rotary strand wiping die thereon within the chamber, a second shaft resiliently mounted in the chamber and having a rotary strand wiping die thereon within the chamber for coaction with the first named die and the second shaft also extending through a wall of the chamber, and means to drive the shafts located completely outside the chamber comprising a gear mounted on each shaft outside the chamber, the said gears being normally in mesh and adapted to remain in mesh while the second 11 shaft moves a limited distance from the first shaft and returns to normal position.

HEINZ KRESS. 

